Listening to one of my favorite episodes of "Doug Loves Movies" before bed. Anthony Jeselnik and Rob Huebel make for lots o laughs and the best Leonard Maltin game ever!!

Just finished Episode 803 of Never Not Funny. As with so many past guests, I had never heard of Pete Holmes prior to this episode, but am now a fan. I love that Jimmy loved "Burlesque" too, I can't get the songs out of my head.

Just watched the cutest little quirky indie flick! It is called "Answer Man." It stars Jeff Daniels and one of my favorite actresses, Lauren Graham. It was heartfelt, real, and funny! Definitely worth a try!!

The Twilex Hip Hop - Love it!!!

I love So You Think You Can Dance!!  I am so sad Alex got injured because he is amazing.  For those of you who don't watch, check out the greatest hip hop routine I have ever seen.  This is definitely my cool beans clip of the week...would you believe one of these guys is a ballet dancer?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLtSfYX8tJk

I want to introduce a new feature called people worth googling! First up is Lin-Manuel Miranda. He is one of the most talented people of our time! He created the Broadway hit IN THE HEIGHTS, he wrote the music, lyrics and also stars in it. He is no longer in the Broadway show cuz he is on the National tour. The first time I saw him was on the 2009 Tony Awards when he performed and won. I fell in love because he freestyled his acceptance speech. He was also on the beyond incredible season premier of House this last season. You may also recognize him from his str turn as Big Bird's real estate agent on Sesame Street.

Oprah, Barbie and Girl Power!!

I was recently asked whether or not I thought Oprah had changed the world.  My answer to that was of course…no.  Sure, she has created a name for herself, well hell an entire empire even, but other than massive giveaways, telling us what books to read, and showing us that no matter how much money we have we weren't all meant to be skinny what impact has she really had on the world?  On that same day I was asked if I thought Barbie had changed the world.  My answer that time was yes.  I mean sure there is the whole negative body image stigma.  And, being a woman who grew up playing with Barbie's I get it.  She did give us all this unrealistic ideal of what a woman should look like, but I believe she has done way more good than bad.  It was the first series of dolls to depict women in different rolls.  Not just the mother and/or housewife, but a career woman.  Barbie was a doctor, pilot, fashion designer and rock star.   She showed us little girls that we could do anything we wanted, be whatever we wanted to be.  I will be forever grateful to Barbie for that.  Women are strong, beautiful, sensitive, nurturing, multi-taskers without whom the world would cease to exist.  These questions got me thinking about the women who inspired me and who truly did change the world.  Women such as Amelia Earhart, who I believe was the first true feminist.  There is a great article about her at HOWSTUFFWORKS.COM I highly recommend.  Lucille Ball, who was beautiful, smart and funny!  There was also Marilyn Monroe, who was the epitome of beauty and sensuality…a size 14 by the way.  So many women made the world what it is today.  Now please don't get me wrong, I really don't see myself as much of a feminist.  I dream of being a wife and mother above all else, but I also want to be a writer.   A lot of women have big dreams that don't afford them a lot of time at home.  That doesn't mean they shouldn't have children, or that we should criticize them for not being home if they do.  There are a lot of men out there who don't mind being stay at home dads.  I know women have this reputation or tradition I guess of being the ones who do the cooking and cleaning and if they don't work or are not the major breadwinners than I have no problem with that.  However, if they do bring home the bacon so to speak, and the man stays home then I feel there is no reason why he can't do it.  I of course believe in equal rights, but I can't deny the role women have inherently played throughout history.  We were the mothers, the ones who gave life and took care of everything within the home.  That is the miracle of our being.  I know that there are a lot of woman who don't want that life, and that is fine.  We can't really blame society for still seeing men and women in the traditional roles.  The world has come a long, long way and for the most part I am glad I grew up when I did.  J

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It's been 2 weeks!! I have been on the restricted calorie program (I refuse to call it a diet) for 14 days now. I have done really well. I also have not had fast food in almost a month. I refuse to do it! I was eating it so much, it was ridiculous! I watched "Supersize me" the other night too and it just reaffirmed that I was doing the right thing. The stuff they feed us, that we allow them to pass off as food, is disgusting! Don't get me wrong, I'm not delusional I know it tastes yummy. It's cheap and quick and convenient, and I still crave it sometimes...but I have not waivered from my path. I have been trying to prepare more natural food! We have got to support our local farmers y'all, it's better for all of us!!

Great way to kill time.

Hey everyone, I wanted to take a second to tell y'all about a website I just heard of.  It is freerice.com and is very cool...  Especially if you enjoy trivia, as I do.  You just go to the website, there is nothing to join or anything, and for every trivia question you answer correctly they donate 10 grains of rice through the World Health Organization.  The first time I logged in it defaulted to the subject of English, but there are many more and they are easy to change.  I encourage everyone to check this site out.  They are doing great things. 

This week in Daniland - March 7 - 13 2010

Here is this week's wrap up! 

Cool Beans Clip of the Week:

First ever live performance of Lazy Sunday by Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell, widely believed to be the first web vid to go viral.  Chris Parnell of Saturday Night Live fame was a guest on Late Night monday.  Jimmy Fallon got he and Andy Samberg together for a performance that can only be called EPIC! 
Enjoy...
http://www.hulu.com/watch/133291/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-lazy-sunday-live

Throw back LOL of the week:

I have been a long time fan of Whose Line is it Anyway?, both the US and Brittish versions.  The other night I felt a bit nostalgic and decided to hit up YouTube and watch a few old clips.  Here is one of my favs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqg6BNSUG5Q

Redbox Reccommendation of the week:

I'm surprising myself with this, but I actually reccommend The Time Traveler's Wife.  I kind of just happened upon watching it, but I must say I really enjoyed it.  It isn't just the chick flick love story I was expecting.  There are elements of chick flickery for sure, but it also takes a rather raw look at human emotion.  The acting was impeccable and the effects were beautifully done.  Definitely worth $1.00

I also wanted to take a second to talk about Wish Lists on Amazon.com:
If you haven't yet, you should for sure look into them.  You just scroll through the amazon store and anything you see that you want, you click add to wish list.  This list is public so anyone can just type your name into the search bar and find your list.  It is a great tool for people like me who never know what to buy for birthdays, etc. It is important to note that Amazon doesn't just have books, they have EVERYTHING!  Also, it's not like you have to buy the items from Amazon.  You can use the list to get an idea what your friends and family need/want and go buy it wherever you choose.  I highly reccommend that you encourage the people in your life to utilize this.  It's fantastic! 

Well that's it for this week, unless of course I get to see Alice in Wonderland tonight.  Then you can expect a review tomorrow.  Have a great weekend everyone and remember if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with...lol thank you Stephen Stills!

New Features

First of all I want to thank my loyal followers, I'm up to three now - Woo Hoo, for being patient while I try and figure this whole blog thing out.  I've decided that every Saturday I am going to do a wrap up of the previous week.  This will include a few things I think are fun.  For instance, a cool beans clip of the week, a throwback lol moment, and a redbox reccomendation.  I hope you all enjoy.  :)

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I am so sad to report that Andrew Koenig's body was found today. It appears he did take his life. My thoughts are with his family and friends in this difficult time.

Just randomness!

Hello all!  First I want to apologize to all my loyal followers (i.e. Cindy...hehe) for not updating this for awhile.  Things have just been crazy.  Secondly, I would like say that thus far I have only written about things that have gotten me all fired up but from now on I am going to try and update at least once a week, which will probably lead to some lighter subject matter.  I am also going to introduce a few additions to the blog, just to give you all a taste of what it is really like in Daniland. 

So as we continue you'll probably start to see some reoccurring features.  For example, since music is such a huge part of my life and I have such a wide spectrum of taste I'll probably introduce some artists I'm really into.  Or maybe even give you some lyrics to a song that you may not normally pay attention to since it is in a genre or by an artist you don't know or like.  I am also a huge movie buff so you might start to see some reviews come through.  Once things calm down a bit, I want to start hitting the theatres and doing some movie marathons again to get caught up.  I'll need my movie partner for that, Cindy better tell your daughter to be ready. 

So today I want to introduce y'all to a new song that I am really loving at the moment.  This being the first of my recommendations, I feel I must preface this by saying it is from an artist who is best known for being in a group that I am not a fan of.  However, he broke free and is now involved in a new project.  This is their first single and I gotta say, I dig it!!  The lyrics are simple yet so poignant.  And the music is catchy and cool.  I don't really like the voice of the singer, but he is a great musician.  You can hear his passion in his playing and singing.  This song just speaks to me.

Here are some of the lyrics...

"Nothing makes sense, nothing makes sense anymore
Nothing is right, nothing is right when you're gone
I'm losing my breath, I'm losing my right to be wrong
I'm frightened to death, I'm frightened that I won't be strong

I want someone to love me
For who I am
I want someone to need me
Is that so bad?
I wanna break all the madness
But it's all I have
I want someone to love me
For who I am

I'm shaking it off, I'm shaking off all of the pain.
Breaking my heart, breaking my heart once again"

If you like what you see and want to hear it, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v75Jh9zm8vE and check it out. 

Now that that is out of the way, lets get down to business.  I want to talk about depression, fun subject right?  I'm not sure if you have heard or not but Andrew Koenig is missing.  He played "Boner" on growing pains and is the son of Walter Koenig, who played Chekov in Star Trek.  There is countless amounts of info about this elsewhere on the web so I won't delve into it too deeply, I just want to say this ...  I read some stuff people are saying about how thoughtless it is of him to disappear and how selfish he is.  He has everything, what does he have to be depressed about.  Blah, blah, blah.  I just want to say to those people, obviously you have never had to deal with depression, and I am glad for you.  It sucks, for lack of a better word.  It is this seemingly unending feeling of dread and nothingness that swallows you whole!  You have no control over it.  And when you are feeling that hopeless, you are not thinking about anything but doing whatever you need to do to be happy again.  You feel like the people you love would be better off without you around bringing them down.  Now, I don't know Andrew, obviously, but I get the impression from hearing he and his friends on podcasts and such, that he is not the type that would go the suicide route.  Those people are selfish!!  I think he just wanted a break from his life. He wanted to start over fresh, go somewhere he remembers being happy.  He needs help.  He needs to realize that nothing is as bad as it seems.  I hope his family finds him soon safe and sound.  I just want people to realize how serious depression is.  There are many different levels and many things that can lead to it.  When you start feeling yourself slip into that, please talk to someone or find some way to pull yourself out.  Take it from someone who has dealt with it her whole life, its never as bad as you think, and suicide is NEVER the right answer!!!! 

 

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Down with Valentine's Day!

In the interest of full disclosure I should start off by telling you that I have only ever been in one real relationship, but even then I wasn't a fan of Valentine's Day. My boyfriend and I had a mutual hatred of the day, therefore chose not to celebrate. He felt, as did I that if you truly love someone you should show that person all the time. Why should there be one day of the year when you have to spend money you may not necessarily have or make crazy plans you wouldn’t normally make? So things were all fine and dandy until the first year that I worked in an office. All the women around me were getting flowers and balloons and whatever else and making comments about how saying he didn’t believe in Valentine’s Day was just a way to get out of buying me something. I was young and impressionable, and so was he. He felt like he needed to compete with the other men and I bought into it. I didn’t want my coworkers to think that he didn’t love me. It is sad that we have all been programmed to believe in this crazy “holiday”, and I use this term loosely. We should all take a moment and look up the history of this bizarre day of love and how it became what it is today. As far as I am concerned this day exists only to make the greeting card and candy companies obscene amounts of money. It is an impossible situation for men always having to outdo the last year or the other men around. And if you are a single woman like me, well it can be one of the most depressing days of the year. I have been single for many years and for the most part pretty happy about it. However on February 14th I can’t help but feel like a complete loser. I am almost thirty and alone. It is so frighteningly depressing to watch everyone around you get all these things that are supposed to represent love. I hate it! The commercialism and exclusivity of it all makes me sick. I know this probably sounds like the pathetic ramblings of an old bitter spinster, well that’s probably because it is. I truly don’t believe in this holiday though and am curious to know how many of you agree with me.

NBC Ruins the greatest television franchise in history!

As a self proclaimed "night owl" I have been watching late night television since I can remember. Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I am 29 years old so I was only 11 when he retired. That was an incredibly sad day, but Jay Leno took the helm and made the show his own. I enjoyed watching him for many years as well as Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I'll admit I had my doubts when NBC hired a virtually unknown talent to be David Letterman's replacement. However, Conan quickly found his niche and changed my mind. I have been a fan for 15 years and will be for life. I can't believe that NBC even suggested moving the Tonight Show to 12:05 am! I agree with Conan, it just simply wouldn't be the Tonight Show anymore! I know that Jay Leno is a workaholic and that NBC also screwed him in this whole ordeal and I have been a fan for years, but I will NOT watch the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He had his run and if he knew his prime time show was going to be a disaster he should have walked away then! Conan was only given 7 months to build an audience with a crappy lead in. He did great for what he had. He also has to deal with the fact that DVR and the Internet are how most people watch television now days. I am no expert so I have no idea if these mediums are figured in the ratings calculations, I am just saying they weren't even an option at the beginning of Jay Leno's run. Conan could continue to host the show and get paid, but he is looking past whats best for him and looking out for whats best for the show. He also realizes the effect the move would have on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and he refuses to do it. I respect the man immensely for that! He didn't strike a deal until his staff, almost all of whom made the move from New York to LA with him, were taken care of. Even opting to pay them out of his own severance. He is a class act and a hugely talented man. Friday will be a very sad day for television, it will be, in my eyes, the end of the Tonight Show. Wherever you end up Conan, I will be watching.